


Enchanted To Meet You, Niklaus

by icebluecyanide



Series: Enchanted To Meet You [2]
Category: The Originals (TV)
Genre: Character Study, First Meetings, Fluff, Gen, Infidelity, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-10
Updated: 2018-08-10
Packaged: 2019-06-25 12:29:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15640785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icebluecyanide/pseuds/icebluecyanide
Summary: Esther considers her newborn child. Elijah meets his brother for the first time.





	Enchanted To Meet You, Niklaus

 

_10th Century_

 

The child has fair hair and blue eyes and Esther once again breathes a sigh of relief for her stroke of good fortune. He looks like Mikael.

Perhaps she ought to feel guilty for this, for deceiving her husband in such a way, for cuckolding him, but she cannot bring herself to regret the child. Already Mikael’s reaction to her pregnancy has given her hope. Her husband showed genuine joy when she’d told him, had even felt her stomach to feel the child in a way he hadn’t since her first pregnancy.

Does it really matter that the father is somebody else? After all, this boy will never know his true father. He will be Mikael’s son in everything but blood. There is no reason to ruin their newfound happiness with the truth.

There’s a sound coming from outside, and she suspects she already knows who it is.

“Elijah,” she calls. “Is that you?”

The cloth covering the entrance rustles as it is brushed aside, and her second son stands lingering at the doorway, as if waiting for permission to enter properly.

“Ayana said the birth was over now,” Elijah says in that solemn way he has sometimes. It should be a comical look on one so young, but Elijah has always been a quiet child.

“Ayana was right,” she tells him. “You have a new brother.”

“A brother?” He looks a little confused, but then she supposes that is her own fault.

She would have explained more to Elijah before, perhaps even let him feel the child move in her belly, but she’d been so careful. If anything went wrong during the birth, if she’d had another child with dark hair...

She makes no illusions about her husband’s willingness to accept another man’s child. Mikael can never suspect this boy is not his, and she hadn’t wanted Elijah too attached to his brother yet, just in case.

“Yes,” she tells him, instead of dwelling on the past. “Here, come meet your little brother.”

Elijah obediently wanders closer, crouching a few feet away from her, careful not to get in the way. He looks over at the baby with a curious eye.

“He’s very small,” Elijah says dubiously.

“Most babies are when they are first born,” she explains. “You weren’t all that much bigger when you came into the world.”

“Oh,” he says softly.

“He’ll be small for a while yet, so you’ll have to help him, Elijah, be a good older brother. Can you do that?”

He nods.

She smiles, then shifts the baby in her arms so she can sit more comfortably.

“What’s his name?” Elijah asks, looking up at her with his dark eyes.

“He doesn't have one yet,” she explains. “We’ll wait until your father returns so he can name him.”

It’s important that Mikael believes this child to be his own, she had decided that as soon as she realised she was with child again. Letting him name the boy will hopefully provide a connection.

Elijah goes back to watching the baby again, leaning forward as if to get a better look.

“Would you like to hold him?” she asks, and watches his eyes grow wide.

“May I?” he asks.

“Of course,” she says, and lightly pats the ground next to her. “Settle down here, and then I’ll show you how to hold your little brother.”

He quickly does as he’s told, looking at the bundle in her arms with eager curiosity.

“Hold out your arms,” she tells him, lowering the child into his hands.

Elijah takes him carefully, his movements a little unsure.

“Careful now,” she cautions. “Make sure that you support the head.”

With some help the baby soon rests in his brother’s lap, his head in the crook of Elijah’s elbow.

“He’s heavy,” Elijah comments, clearly not having expected it. “Is that why you were so tired all the time? Because you were carrying him in your belly?”

She tries not to laugh at his earnest tone, letting out a small chuckle. “In part, yes.”

Elijah nods as if this makes complete sense to him, still watching the baby lying in his lap.

It suddenly strikes her how she’s never seen her children like this before. Freya had been young when Finn was born, and never got to meet Elijah. After Elijah was born there had only been Finn, and Finn had never shown much interest in Elijah, not like his older sister.

She wonders if Freya would have looked at Elijah like this, if Dahlia hadn’t taken her.

“Your sister Freya used to sing to you while you were in my womb,” she tells him suddenly, and Elijah glances up in surprise. No wonder, as Esther rarely mentions her first child. Still, perhaps Elijah has a right to know.

“To me?” he asks.

“You would kick so hard whenever she did, like you wanted to come out,” teases Esther, recalling what she’d told her daughter years ago. “It was as if Thor himself had raised his hammer and summoned thunder and lightning.”

Elijah appears to be drinking in every word she says, his eyes wide.

“She was so very enchanted with the idea of meeting her youngest brother,” she says, then smiles and nods at the baby. “A bit like you, perhaps?”

He looks back down with a small smile, and nods. He shifts so he can use one hand to pull the soft swaddling cloth to cover his brother better, then goes still as the baby stirs.

Elijah makes a soft noise of surprise when his baby brother clutches his tiny fingers around his, and opens his blue eyes.

“Oh,” he says, a tone of wonder in his voice. “Hello.”

The baby gapes at him, opening his mouth. She can’t help but smile at seeing her sons so entranced by the sight of each other.

Elijah smiles.

“I’m your brother,” he tells the baby. “It’s very nice to meet you.”

 


End file.
